SHINNSTON, W.Va. – West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin is skeptical about the timing of a federal investigation looking into his administration – a probe that has dogged the popular leader since he announced his bid for Senate earlier this year.

“It’s one of those things, you look at the timing, and you question the timing of how all this would have happened. But it is what it is, and I think the people know better,” Manchin told POLITICO Sunday.

Manchin is in a competitive Senate race against Republican John Raese. Recent public polls have given the governor a small edge, including a Public Policy Polling survey released Sunday that showed Manchin with a 5-point lead.

A couple weeks after Manchin announced his Senate campaign in late July, the governor’s office confirmed that the Department of Highways and the Department of Administration had received subpoenas. Over the past few months, a series of local news reports indicated the investigation is related to a series of government contracts. The governor’s office maintains none of the requests was directed at the governor or his staff, but local newspapers reported last week the investigation has widened to include the Department of Aviation.

Manchin has kept mostly mum about the investigation, directing local reporters to contact the special assistant attorney general assigned to the case for any details.

But in between greeting local residents at a church luncheon, Manchin said he believed his push for ethics reform as governor might have “rubbed” some people the wrong way.

“We had to change a lot of things about the way we do business in West Virginia, by making the bidding process more open, transparent, getting financial advisers,” he said. “So there’s a lot of people’s whose feathers were rubbed wrong, and I think there might be some of that coming back to roost.”

When pushed for additional details, Manchin shrugged.

Last week, federal prosecutors requested to postpone sentencing of wall-paper company owner Clark Diehl, who received a no-bid contract to redecorate Manchin’s office. Diehl’s attorney told a local newspaper that he was cooperating in a “sensitive and ongoing investigation.”

A local television station also confirmed the subpoenas likely targeted a real estate appraisal company owned by former governor’s aide Larry Puccio, whose company has received $831,932 worth of government contracts since 1996.